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2002 White House Christmas Card Artist - Zhen-Huan Lu
Born in Shanghai, China, in 1950, Zhen-Huan Lu is the youngest of six children in the family. He received his three-years (1973-76) of formal training in fine arts and stage design at Shanghai Theatre Academy, which was then known for having the best landscape painting program in the country. After graduation, he exhibited his artwork in prestigious galleries and museums throughout China. His paintings were collected by the China National Museum of Art and by other private art collectors. In 1978, Lu was invited back to Shanghai Theatre Academy to teach painting and stage design to both graduate and undergraduate students.
In 1986, Lu was invited to the United States for his first solo exhibition in City Island, New York. Since then, he has had numerous solo and group exhibitions across the country. For the past several years, Lu has been exclusively represented at Hammer Galleries in Manhattan, New York. Hammer Galleries, founded by Dr. Armand Hammer in 1928, specializes in 19th and 20th century European and American paintings. Lu's solo exhibitions at Hammer have been very successful, especially his last show, which was a complete sell-out.
Although he also excels in painting portraits, Lu is best known for his American landscape paintings. Given his unique cultural background and artistic training, Lu's paintings are a seamless marriage of American Realistic style, French Impressionistic technique and traditional Chinese aesthetics. Lu employs everyday objects as means of expressing different emotions, whether it is loneliness, serenity, elegance, or sorrow. The simplicity, poetic language and skillful manipulation of light and shadow are among distinctive features of Lu's painting. In addition to his unique painting style, Lu excels at many different art media, such as oil painting, watercolor, egg tempura and pastel.
In 2002, Lu was honored to receive the invitation from the White House to prepare a painting for its Christmas card in 2002.
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